Portable, hand operated, tube bending tool



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PORTABLE, HAND OPERTED, TUBE BENDING TOOL 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed May l, 1953 Aung.. 7, i956 J. H. zALx-:s ET AL 757552 PORTABLE, HAND OPERATED, TUBE BENDING TOOL Filed May l, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 w if@ i JNVENTORS.

United States Patent() PORTABLE, HAND OPERATED, TUBE BENDING TUOL Joseph H. Zales, Chicago, and George E. Franck, River side, Ill., assignors to The Imperial Brass Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Illinois Application May 1, 1953, Serial No. 352,558

2 Claims. (Cl. 81--15) This invention relates to a portable hand operated tube bending tool, and in particular it relates to a tube bending tool which is so constructed that a plurality of closely spaced bends in dilerent planes may be made in a piece of tubing.

In the use of metal tubing of the sort which is employed in tiuid connections, and more particularly in refrigeration lines and fuel and oil lines in automobiles and aircraft, a piece of tubing must frequently be provided with a series of bends in various planes, and one of the diicult problems has been to make such bends with a portable hand operated bending tool. Insofar as applcants are aware, the formation of a plurality of bends in a piece of tubing which are disposed in different planes has been possible only if the bends were spaced far enough apart that a first bend could be positioned completely clear of the body of the bending tool when the second bend was being made. With the tool of the present invention, a series of bends in diierent planes may be produced with one bend flowing directly into another, without an intervening straight portion.

T he principal object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a portable hand operated bending tool which may be used to form a series of continuous bends in different planes in a piece of metal tubing.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a tool which is of simple and rugged construction, and use of which is not substantially different from the use ot conventional tube bending tools.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a fragmentary side elevation of a bending tool constructed in accordance with the invention preparatory to starting a bending operation, the bending arm being illustrated in broken lines in the position which it occupies when a piece of tubing is being inserted in the tool;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1, showing in solid lines the position of the bending arm and tubing upon completion of a 90 bend, and in broken lines upon completion of a 180 bend;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section on an enlarged scale taken as indicated along the line 3--3 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevational View on an enlarged scale, viewing the bending tool from the side opposite that shown in Fig. l, at the beginning of a bending operation; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary end elevation with the tool parts in the positions which they occupy upon completion of a 90 bend which is continuous with another bend in a plane different from the 90 bend.

While we have shown and shall hereinafter describe one embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement will be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

2,757,562 iatented Aug. 7, 1956 "ICC Referring to the drawings in greater detail, and referring first to Fig. 1, the bending tool includes a bending die head, indicated generally at 10, which. has an arcuate margin 11 provided with a circumferential groove 12 into whicha piece of tubing T may be bent. A handle 13 is fxedly secured to the rear face of the bending die 10, as seen in Fig. 4.

The front face of the bending die 10 is provided with flat bearing surfaces 14 and 15 which support a bearing plate 16 of a pivoted bending lever 17. In the bearing plate 16 is an arcuate slot 13 to receive a pivot pin 19 which has a large, flat head 20 overlying the bearing plate 16, and which has its opposite end iiared outwardly, as seen in Fig. 3, into a countersink in the fixed handle 13 to retain the pivot pin in the bending die 10. As best seen in Fig. 5, the bending lever 17 is provided with a bending block portion 21 which has an arcuate recess 22 which is complementary to the circumferential recess 12 in the bending die 10, the circumferential recess 12 and the arcuate recess 22 thus being adapted to receive the tubing T therebetween. Rotation of the bending4 lever 17 about the pivot 19 causes the tube receiving recess 22 to travel from end to end of the circumferential recess 12 in the bending die 10, during the course of which travel the tubing T is bent around the bending die 10 in the circumferential recess 12 to form a bend of any desired angular extent, as seen in Fig, 2. The bending lever 17 is provided with an index surface 23 which may be aligned with any one of a number of angle index numbers on the face of the bending die 10 to show the number of degrees of bend which have been made :in the tubing T.

Opposite the arcuate margin 11 the bending die 10 has a fiat side 24 on which a hook 25 is pivotally mounted by means of a screw 26, so that the hook 25 may be swung into a tube engaging position immediately ad* jacent one end of the circumferential recess 12 in the bending die 10. The outer end of the hook 25 is bored to receive a screw 27 which extends entirely through the hook to serve as a pivot for a swivelly mounted block 23 which is provided with a tube engaging recess 29. The swivel mounting of the block 2t; permits the tube engaging recess 29 therein to be aligned with a portion of a piece of tubing T which extends laterally with respect to the circumferential recess 12 in the bending die 10. Thus, a lirst bend T may be made in a piece of tubing, and as shown in Fig. 5 the tubing may be removed from the bending tool and replaced therein, with the first bend T extending transversely from the bending die head 10 so as to permit the formation of a second bend continuous with the bend T', and in a different plane. in such a situation the tube engaging block 28 is swivelled, as shown, so that the recess 29 therein. is parallel to the line of the tubing at the area of engagement.

In order to permit the first bend T to extend transversely with respect to the circumferential recess 12, the wall of the recess 12 is cut away adjacent the hook 25 to provide a side opening 30, best seen in. Fig. 4. Thus, the first bend T projects laterally from the line of the circumferential groove 12 through the side opening 30 and through the recess 29 in the block 23.

We claim:

l. A portable, hand operated tube bending tool, comprising: a bending die head having an arcuate surface provided with a circumferential tube receiving recess; a fixed handle on said die head; a bending lever having a tube engaging recess which is complementary to a portion of the recess in the die head, said bending lever being pivotally mounted on the die head so that the tube engaging recess may travel from end to end of said circumferential recess; a pivoted hook on the die head which may be swung into a tube engaging position immediately adjacent one end of the circumferential recess;

I y 2,757,562 Y 'I 3 v l 4 and a block' on said hook which is provided with a tubemay accommodate a portion of a tube which extends engaging recess, said block being swivel mounted on a laterally from said end of the recess.

pivot which lies in a plane perpendicular to the pivotal axis of the hook so that the recess therein may be engaged References Cmd m the me of uns patent with a portion of a tube which extends laterally -With 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS respect to the circumferential recess. 2,127,185 Parker Aug. 16, 1938 2. The tube bending tool of claim 1 in which a portion 2,413,523 Shaw Dec. 31, 1946 of the periphery of the bending die head is cut away im- 2,428,237 McIntosh Sept. 30, 1947 mediately adjacent the pivoted hook to provide a side 2,464,800 Franck Mar. 22, 1949 opening at one end of the circumferential recesss which 10 2,571,241 Henderson Oct. 16, 1951 

